Report Highlights Top Public Radio Stations

The Media Audit FYI
July 2013

A new report highlighting the nation's top public radio stations
reveals that Ann Arbor, Michigan's WUOM-FM ranks highest in 7-day
cume listening. According to the study, 25.1% of Ann Arbor's metro
area adult population has listened to the public radio station in
the past 7 days, ranking the station as the number one highest
ranked public radio station across The Media Audit's 80+ measured
markets. Ranking second is Northern California's KQED-FM,
which has a rating of 18.8% with adults 18+ in the San Jose metro
area, followed by Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota's KNOW-FM, which
has a rating of 17.7% with adults 18+. More than two hundred
public radio stations were included in the report.

Ranking fourth is Portland, Maine's WMEA-FM, with a 17.3% 18+
rating, followed by Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina's WUNC-FM which
has a 16.9% 7-day cume rating.

Public radio stations represent the largest number of
non-commercial radio stations in the U.S. and in many cases they
can be formidable competition for local advertising dollars.
Among one of the strengths of public radio is its ability to keep
listeners coming back for more. According to The Media Audit's
National Radio Format Report, Public Radio ranks as the third
highest reaching radio format, with an estimated 22.5 million
listeners across The Media Audit's measured markets. On average,
64% of those who listened to a public radio station in the past
week also listen to the station more than any other station in the
market. The figure, when compared to other commercial radio
formats, ranks Public Radio third highest in converting cume
listeners to "most often" listeners, creating an opportunity for
underwriters to garner greater frequency from an underwriting
campaign.

Furthermore, many public radio stations are gaining ground in local
website ratings, increasing the size of their total reach within a
metro area. According to the same report, Portland, Oregon's
KOBP-FM ranks highest among public radio stations in website
visitors, reaching 21.8% of the metro area over a 30 day
period. Salt Lake City, Utah's KBYU-FM ranks second,
with 19.9% of the metro area's population having visited the
station's website in the past 30 days, followed by San Francisco,
California's KQED-FM (18.9% reach), KQED-FM in San Jose, California
(18.5% reach), and Albany, New York's WMHT-FM (14.8% reach).

In San Jose, California, the addition of the station's past 30 day
website visitors to the station's past 7-day listening audience
results in a 28.6% total unduplicated reach for the combined radio
and website audiences- the highest of any public radio station
measured. Portland, Oregon's KOBP-FM has the second highest
unduplicated radio/web reach (27.4%), followed by Ann Arbor,
Michigan's WUOM-FM (25.8%), KQED-FM in San Francisco, California
(25.8%), and Salt Lake City, Utah's KBYU-FM (23.9%).

Intelligence from The Media Audit's National Radio Format Report
also identifies the demographics of a typical public radio listener
in addition to buying patterns. The report suggests many listeners
who choose to listen to public radio most of the time are more
likely to be wealthy consumers with active lifestyles. According to
the report, those who listen to a public radio station most often
are 67% more likely to earn $150,000 or more in household income,
55% more likely to have liquid assets of more than $250,000, and
80% more likely to be a business owner. Furthermore, those who
listen to a public radio station most of the time are heavier
consumers of foreign luxury vehicles (39% more likely to own),
hotels (25% more likely to stay 10+ nights per year), and air
travel (79% more likely to be heavy domestic air traveler, and 65%
more likely to be a heavy foreign air traveler).

Surveys were conducted in 80 U.S. cities among more than 100,000
respondents. In addition to cume and "most often" listening, the
study provides analysis of past 30 day website visitors, and the
total unduplicated net reach of the radio and website audiences
combined for each station measured.

A complete summary of the report will be made available at the
upcoming Public Media Development & Marketing Conference
July 11 - 13 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in downtown
Atlanta, Georgia.